My goal was to describe in plain English the way these networks provide value to their users and the metaphors they use for interaction. The more active members are in the community, the greater their influence and the richer the interactions with other members. version of the classic impression, but social network interactions are potentially much more important because members can comment upon, endorse and share other members’ activities with their own networks. Perhaps you’ll find these basic explanations useful in some context. Facebook & LinkedIn. MORE >>

The Internet is the most measurable medium ever invented, but the perception that returns on online social interactions can’t be quantified stubbornly persists. Those who still harbor this misconception should do themselves a favor and pick up Measure What Matters , a guide to digital ROI that puts common sense ahead of the current fan/follower frenzy. I’ll admit my biases up front. I’ve known author Katie Paine since her days as a PR pro in the 1980s and am an unabashed fan. This is an important point because many of the tools Paine recommends work well in any medium. MORE >>

The SMB market is coveted by technology firms, and many of them pay Spiceworks for the chance to interact with the audience of over one million IT professionals for activities ranging from market research to product design. Here are the first 1,100 words of the chapter on B2B social communities from my forthcoming book, co-authored with Eric Schwartzman, entitled Social Marketing to the Business Customer. The rest of the chapter will go into the various kinds of social communities and how to use them, with examples from the HR, food service, medical and construction industries. MORE >>

CRM is a well-established discipline that presumes that the more information we can capture about a customer’s interactions with our company, the better we can deliver products and services that the person wants to buy. It seems only natural that online social interactions should be part of this profile. CRM is hard to do well because A) everyone who interacts with the customer must be committed to documenting every touch point; and B) the company must have the analytical chops to know what to do with the data it collects. encourage you to restrain your enthusiasm. right. MORE >>

People are learning to treat each other as people instead of titles, and that improves the quality of interaction. Last week I posted a rant about the failure of CIOs to take a leadership role in their company’s social media strategies. Having played the scold, I also want to recognize the efforts of CIOs who get it. The Next Big Thing This is one in a series of posts that explore people and technologies that are enabling small companies to innovate. The series is underwritten by IBM Midsize Business , but the content is entirely my own. million customers. The first event was a sellout. MORE >>